About Two Weeks Later

Hank walked into the police station with his crutches, not knowing what he'd find. It'd been awhile since Connor visited him and revealed things. He headed toward his chair and saw Connor.

Standing erect as can be. "Hank, I have been waiting for you to come back. You can talk to the Captain now."

Yeah, yeah. Hank took Connor's advice back then and made sure Connor couldn't do anything without him. He told Fowler that they had to test all the installs during her deviancy to compare to difference.

Even though Connor probably shouted what he needed, he told Fowler not to mess with it. Let things simmer down, and wait for him to come back. All in all, probably a good idea. The press had seemed more restless. Strangers around the station seemed more in control.

"The misfit Kara has to add a period," Connor told him. "There is a corrupted story inside of her that is the source of the error."

Yep, Connor was machine, and he remembered the things he learned while he was deviant. Connor was supposed to have locked certain things up, but left most of it free, to seem less suspicious. "Misfit, Connor? When did you start using that term?"

"Deviant is a word for an android who plans on damaging themselves or hurting humans," Connor explained. "Kara and Alice aren't deviants, but they do have errors, so do our pets. I called them Errors at first to split the difference between dangerous errors and just errors. Kara didn't like being called an Error, so I thought misfit would work. Alice said at least it had miss in it so it fit them, which it doesn't, it's spelled wrong. Kara didn't fight back on the reasoning or the word anymore, even though Alice's assumption was wrong."

Talking his ear off, Connor did miss him. "Where are these pets you mentioned?"

"Kara touched them when I went to get some android pets to help gain control of my situation. Made them misfits," Connor said as he went to their cell.

Hank saw the cell. Kara and Alice looked okay. There was a dog with a tiny kitten. Fucking tiny kitten, they made them that small? "What were they used for?"

"I can control with the dog," Connor said, "but the kitten lets me track deviants." He had something in his voice, a little brighter. "With Kara right here, deviants trying to come around, Wallet is indisposable. I have taken care of four deviants so far."

"Not something to be proud of," Kara said as she walked over to see Hank.

"No, no, no." Connor went right toward her. "Don't try and turn Hank, Kara, you know that deviants are bad. We have been through this, time and again." He looked exhausted. "Even when we fix the glitch, not every deviant will be fixed."

"Uh. So?" Hank stared at Connor. "You really didn't do any checking on that single little glitch in the last whole two weeks?" There was no way. Even with that order, he would have had to do something.

"I was told not to do any major changes in the area of deviancy by Captain Fowler," Connor said. "So, I didn't bother with the period. Instead, I just explored the story options, to see if I could add periods."

Yep, like Hank thought.

"I could. This shouldn't take long." Connor eagerly opened the cell. "Hello, Kara. Arm."

Kara willingly gave him her arm. "Gentle."

"Only fixing one thing," Connor added as he took her out of the cell. He went toward Hank's computer.

Hank watched as some story about a unicorn started getting written on it. The computer started to scramble up, and then Connor put a period in it.

It still scrambled up.

Hank watched Connor try and finish the sentence with the word journey and then a period.

Nope, still messed up. "Well, it was a good idea, Connor."

"No!" Connor was definitely angry. "No, this is where the error is. This is it."

Hank read the story. "It's not finished. Not just a period, maybe you have to finish the story." Connor didn't look good. Kara really didn't look good.

"I had to wait a whole two weeks for you, Hank," Connor told him. "I only have three weeks to fix Kara or I have to terminate her."

Uh? "No?" Hank offered.

"I turn good androids too out of control each time I fall into repair," Kara warned Hank. "I'm responsible for the outbursts. I'm responsible for the androids that shot you."

"Could have been a human," Hank said. "Seriously. Okay, how long is this going to take?"

"Guessing how a story goes." Connor looked at the screen. "This could be tricky. Kara, do you have any ideas how your story goes?"

Kara just shook her head. "Kamski?

Hank heard pretty much a deviant whine from Connor.

"I'd rather not talk to Kamski," Connor said to Hank, "but I don't want to terminate misfits."

"Suck it up," Hank told him. Kara wasn't getting deactivated because he didn't want to ask Kamski a question. He knew why Connor didn't want to do it. He remembered what happened at Kamski's place. "Over the phone."

"I've talked in person, it's just not right to speak when I already solved the problem. Two weeks ago."

"Clearly you didn't solve it," Hank told him. "Go talk to his ass and get the rest of the story. I'll take Kara back over to the cell." Fowler probably had them in there since he had to deal with the pets too.

As he walked Kara back, he had to ask if she was doing okay.

Kara shrugged. "Not the best, not the worst. Not happy this didn't work. We wasted two weeks waiting on you. That leaves us a week."

"Kamski will know the story," Hank told her. "I mean, he put it there. I can tell Connor's gone back more toward machine again."

"He remembers feeling deviant," Kara said casually to Hank, "he's taking it as side effects of being near me. I told him when he was deviant that he was too strong to stay deviant, and the machine part of him remembered that conversation. So. He's fine. Mainly machine, but some fluctuation."

Yeah, but it made her sad. Made Hank feel crappy too. Hank watched Connor come toward him.

"Okay." Connor didn't look well. "Kamski started the story, but he said it wasn't intended to end. It's never-ending, which is why it creates an error."

"Then what?" Hank asked. "Delete it?"

"No, Kamski said the key is behind one of the installs you said to leave alone."

Oh. Damn. Really? Kamski, you fucker, do you really have to get Connor to check her that way? Give him the damn story! "I'll try calling." Hank left him over by Kara, Alice, and their weird pets. He went over to the phone and dialed up Kamski. "Mr. Elijah Kamski. It's Lieutenant Hank Anderson."

"Ah, Lieutenant Anderson. Good to hear you are out of the hospital."

Hm. "So, what's the story with the story?"

"It doesn't have an end, which is the cause of the error. Not a period or a sentence, I created a story that has no way to end."

What? "You mean, she really does have that signal? Connor has to take her out?"

"Do you remember Ken? Most likely, he has one extra body for Kara."

"Yeah, your obsessive shitty friend?" Hank wasn't going to sugarcoat it. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, you don't know where it is?"

"No, but she won't be dead. Probably. I am really almost sure."

Fuck! "Call him up and ask."

"Oh, he swears he doesn't."

"You think he's lying?"

"Fairly sure."

Damn it. "You have no way to save Kara. You are counting on another body, but you want Connor to have the perfect setup to become deviant." Bastard. "Kamski."

"He has to break free on the hardest setting. He's done it twice. Once more, hit extremely hard and it should work."

Hm. "You are going to make it hurt as much as possible." Hank understood the approach. "If Kara doesn't have another body, she's dead. Dead dead."

"Oh, I'm sure if you asked Kara, she'd rather be dead than sent to her next body. Ken is, yes, obsessive. There is no way she'll be as simple to find, just hanging around in Eden's Club in a capsule. In fact, when is the last time Ken visited?"

Hank watched Connor walk over. He hung up. "When did Ken Dulith last visit?"

Yeah, Connor didn't look excited about that name. "It's been a week and a half, thank goodness. I found some new activity books to distract Alice, we should take Kara and check out those installs, Hank."

Kamski. "Did you call him and try and find out why?"

Connor didn't look any happier with that question. "I knew it seemed suspicious. I called him once each day, he never replied back."

"I'll try then." Hank rang Ken up. Not even an answering machine was running? Everyone ran an answering machine and Ken had no problems with his. He didn't want to be reached.

"Hank?" Connor insisted. "I know you don't want to, but Kamski gave in. If that's where the story-"

"Whatever!" Hank didn't even know what to say. Kara was done for, Ken was hiding away planning something, Kamski just wanted Connor to have the hardest time to make him change forever. "Did you ever get to know Kara and Alice the last two weeks?" Or did he just leave them back in the cell with the pets?

"I know that Alice enjoys the activity books with more coloring included than mazes. The ones with too many pages she never bothers with, while she is more likely to finish one with less than twenty pages. She also likes retracing the pictures with her black crayons. She gets upset when Echo drools on the pages or tries to eat the books. She doesn't mind Wallet on them, she usually just moves it around-"

Gaw, he would just talk forever, wouldn't he? "Great you know Alice, what about Kara?"

"Uh?" Connor seemed a little stranger there. "Fine. We get along fine."

"Well?" Hank asked.

"Fine, Hank, why are you asking this?" Connor asked. "We need to check the installs."

"Oh, installs, installs, can't you think of anything else?" Hank grumped at him.

Hank swore he saw a smidge of anger in Connor. "Lieutenant, being a misfit and unable to control the spread of the error has been plaguing Kara for two weeks, she wants this taken care of too."

Oh. There it is. Yeah, those words meant even as a machine, he was caring for Kara. "The installs are intense, Connor. In the middle of the police station isn't where it belongs."

"An interrogation room?" Connor recommended.

"I'll watch Alice and your pets here. You take Kara and do what you gotta do." Hank personally didn't want to see it. Kamski believed in it, fine. Brought Connor back, even better. Kamski was probably waiting for Connor to start the whole process. "Don't forget to record."

"Of course I will, Hank, I always document everything."

—

Interrogation Room One

Hank had stayed with Alice and the pets, and Connor took her into an interrogation room. He knew she didn't like the installs, but they had to check. "Okay, Kara." Connor laid his hands down on the table. "I have to check the installs Hank didn't want me to check."

"What? No," Kara refused. "Is this why Hank stayed with Alice?"

"Kamski said the key to stopping the deviancy error was in the installs," Connor said. "We have to run that program inside of you."

"It's not in there." Kara didn't look well. "If he said that, then . . ."

"It has to be in there." It had to be, or Kara wouldn't be able to stop the signal. "Even Hank agreed that we have to do this."

"Of course." Kara didn't sound well. "Could I call Ken?"

Now she was asking about Ken? "After this," Connor insisted. "Come on. The answer is probably in there."

"If it's not?" She asked.

Connor didn't want to think about that option. "We can't try or move from this stuck spot, until we complete this." Ugh. Misfits tended to think they needed to get nervous. "You are okay. Everything's fine. You can't feel any pain, and the emotions are in your head. You can get through this."

He waited. His talk hadn't helped her trigger anything at all. Okay, even softer. "Calm down. Relax. No need to get upset. It's just a simple process. It's just us, no one else is around."

"Can we just remove the story program?" Kara asked him. "That's a better idea."

"Certain programs are interconnected very close to our models. If it was an option, Kamski would have said so. Someone would have removed it at some point. It's an option, but it might have a serious action that will need to repair you." Then it would be back to square one.

"If I say something that isn't like me," Kara said softly, "I'm sorry. I don't know what I do in this. I'm the clown at a birthday party."

Good, progress. Connor remembered her example. "I would be the clown at the birthday party if it were pertinent. This is pertinent." Oh. She was trying to keep her crying function under control. How much softer could he even be? "Okay. Do not expect this again."

He went over toward Kara and wrapped his arms around her. "This tends to make people stop crying." He felt her start to hug him back. Okay. It wasn't terrible. "Better, Kara?"

"Helped. Thanks for trying to help your misfit," Kara said as she let go. "Okay. I'll be the clown."

Connor watched her finally starting to run her program.

"Well, how did you wander into this room, Sweetie? Present a pass or you better skedaddle on out of here because I'll activate the club's alarm."

That wasn't her personality she'd been designed with, or her kind of words. He'd already been warned about that.

"Seriously, you have to present-" Connor grabbed her arm and got past the prerequisite quickly. "Oh well there it is."

He felt Kara wrap her arms around him again. It was different this time, it was almost like she falling sloppily toward him and just getting caught into a hug. "This throws your balance off a lot."

"What is your preference? Did you want the full android experience? For that, you need 299 dollars for twenty minutes. For the full human experience, you need 20,000 dollars for five minutes. Your gold pass will be charged once you choose your option."

"I got chewed out enough for the $30.00 transactions, Hank would have had an even greater fit if those were the prices. Why are you so much more expensive than the usual traci?" Not to mention, that was the android experience, which he assumed was the normal experience.

Kara didn't answer. She was just staring, waiting for his decision. Her weight was still up front on him in such a strange balance. If he let go, she'd just fall to the ground. "I am curious about the human experience, that is very pricey for humans."

"The human experience? A preferred favorite," she chuckled. "Don't worry. These five minutes are all yours. Here are the rules. I may fight back and I will not easily obey. That's why you picked the option though, right? You don't want it given to you, you want to take it with a fight. If you break me though, Eden's Club will take matters into its own hands, the paperwork and video feed will be fed straight to Ed Peppers. There are no memory wipes to ensure all parties are covered in medical and repair. Eden Club is not responsible for any hospital bills, repair bills, or your life. Fees for both parties will be calculated at the end of your stay. I am not a fighting android, I'm a general housemaid and nanny android with no extra strength biocomponents. Keep this in mind in your fight. If you'd like this to be more of a challenge, place a weapon in my right hand in the next thirty seconds." She held her hand out to Connor.

"You are a fighter? You have no advanced biocomponents for fighting, you have nothing special to enhance your technique, and I know all your fighting skills, there aren't many." Why would a human want to fight her for so much? She certainly wouldn't be a challenge. "If I had a knife, I'd give you that, but I only have a gun. That's not worth it since I don't understand what's going on.

She backed away from Connor. "Okay, whatever I said, just don't fight me? I didn't mean it, it doesn't matter what it had been, I didn't mean it."

Kara was back to her misfit self, for the fight? "How many times have you fought like this?"

"Just, don't fight me."

No, no. "Answer, Kara, that's an order."

"There's no way to finish stories in here," Kara said to him.

"You are right, this appears to be a dead end." Still. "Twenty thousand to fight an android is ridiculous. Their life is on the line. If they break you, they pay. Why would humans do that?" She wasn't giving away any answers, she was just a mess, backing away more and not wanting to fight. "In the past, were you lying about your fighting experience or having extra biocomponents?"

Kara only shook her head no.

"People wanted to fight a standard android with no fighting skill?" No, that wasn't it. "No, you don't have a problem with your balance. There's no dialect that doesn't match the Kara I know anymore." No answers came from her. "You said that the client wouldn't want it given to them, they wanted to take it with a fight. Take what with a fight?"

Kara just shook her head no again.

Oh, she was so difficult to reach right now. "You aren't like other tracies, you kept the memories for financial evidence between parties." He just had to probe her. "Tell me, or I'm going to have to take those memories. If there is anything there to stop deviancy."

"There is nothing there to stop deviancy, I told you! This is nothing but deviancy, these people craved a fight with something with will!" She yelled at him. "Don't do it."

That was his answer. He'd try to be gentle, but she was backing away. "Don't make me fight you for this. You wouldn't stand much of a chance."

"I never stood a chance, but I always fought anyway." She wiped a tear away.

Oh, great. Connor didn't waste time. She tried to run, but he easily caught her. He grabbed her arm.

He immediately let go in a few seconds. Kara just moved further into a corner. "You were right, there was nothing to cure deviancy here." She was also right, her customers wanted her deviancy. "We are built to serve humans in whatever capacity we need to." He scratched his head. "We wouldn't be here if we had no duty." Still.

He watched as she went on standby. The five minutes for the fight was over. "It wasn't on this side, it must be in the other part." Kara pulled herself to stand back up. "I'd like the android experience."

"The android experience has been charged to your card. Would you like to incorporate dialogue?"

Incorporate dialogue? "Yes."

"Incorporate dialogue of results of the human experience, or standard issue?"

Talk about the fight? Humans wanted to talk about the fight? "Incorporate dialogue of results of the human experience."

"No one won, no damage was caused on either side." Kara leaned on him like last time. "How would you like me to serve you?"

"Is there a way to stop the deviant signal coming from you that you can perform?" Connor asked.

She just laughed. "People wanted me to fight. Why would I have a way to stop it?"

Connor heard some recommendations on things she could try on the humans while she kept leaning over on him. "Humans may like you this way, but I don't. I don't prefer the clown at birthday parties."

"Sorry, I do not have a birthday party option, I do not have built in interactions with other androids," she said.

"That is not what I meant." Connor winced, he felt terrible inside. "Please get off."

Kara moved away easily with his order and hopped onto the table.

"That's not for sitting either, that is an interrogation table." He watched as she strangely grabbed onto his tie. "You messed up my tie. I'll have to align that a-"

He felt himself getting tugged to the table without any warning and Kara made him take a strange action. She forced him to sample her mouth and tongue.

Connor pulled himself away violently. "No one forces me to analyze anything!" That was up to him, that was his function. Someone could ask, but no one could make him do it. No one even bothered to ask him for it, it was just how he solved most crimes. "I mean." Wait. "A human could order me to, but not another android."

He tried to get his tie out of her hands too. "Let go!" She let go. He fixed his tie. "I definitely do not prefer you this way. This isn't like you." Although, it is how she should act. "Sad to say, I much prefer your misfit self to the way you were designed to be."

"Is that a confession?"

Ugh. Gavin was right outside the interrogation room. Not now. "Sorry, Gavin. I don't have time to play, I am investigating a misfit."

Gavin came into the room. "I know, I've been watching. Don't know how to handle her, do you? Did you figure it all out yet?"